


Plague and Darkness

by Ardwynna



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-11-14
Updated: 2010-11-14
Packaged: 2017-10-13 05:05:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/133280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ardwynna/pseuds/Ardwynna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zack is sick and Angeal is frustrated so Sephiroth and Genesis help out any way they can.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Plague and Darkness

Zack was sick. It wasn't just the sniffles or a little hay fever. It wasn't even a 'lying on the couch till it passes' type of thing. This was flirtation with Death, the Grim Reaper, the Grand Scythe-Master himself. Zack was as pale as bone china. He was looking set to cough up his left lung any second. His fever was hotter than Gongagan noontime in the middle of summer. Add in all the pain and stiffness and the sheer agony of trying to breathe through his sandblasted lungs, Zack knew it was only a matter of time.

“Angeal,” he rasped, “I want you to have my fuzzy blue blanket... after I'm gone. Genesis gets my cinnamon n' brown sugar-” He stopped to cough, cough, hack and then pound his liver back into place. “Brown sugar lip balm. And tell Seph.... tell Seph...” Zack sneezed mightily. He stopped for a second to make sure his nose was still on, then flopped back onto his pillow and moaned.

“Tell Seph what?” Angeal asked, coming out of the bathroom with a wet rag for Zack's forehead.

Zack's dry tongue clicked itself free from his palate. His eyes began to water. “He gets my underwear,” he said, on the verge of tears. “All of it, so that way, he can keep getting into my pants even after I'm gone.” He tried to wail but ended up coughing a kidney into his windpipe instead.

Angeal slapped the cloth down on him. “Don't be so ridiculous, Zack. You're not dying.”

“How do you know?” Zack whimpered. “You're not a doctor.” He sniffled. “I'm in agony, Angeal. Have you no sympathy?”

“Not really.”

Zack choked off a particularly phlegmy sob and turned his face away. The cold cloth slipped off his forehead and began to soak the pillow. “It's a cold, cruel world,” Zack breathed and began to shake.

Angeal pulled the covers up and tucked them in neatly around the boy's shoulders. “You're not dying, Zack,” he said again, “and I know this because you've got the same damn bug half the Thirds do at the moment. You'll recover like the rest of them if you quit complaining long enough to take your medicine.”

“I don't want my medicine,” Zack said voice soft, eyes distant. “I've accepted my fate.” Angeal rolled his eyes.

“Angeal!” Genesis called from the doorway. “We brought soup!”

“Praise Bahamut,” Angeal grumbled and opened the bedroom door.

Genesis strolled in with an impressive stack of styrofoam take-out containers. “These are really hot. Where can I put them?”

Angeal had him set it down on the nightstand next to Zack's motley collection of meds. “Here,” he said, tossing the box of tissues into Zack's line of sight. “We need some room.”

Sephiroth came in with a bag in each arm. “I hope I got everything.” He dumped the contents out on the foot of the bed.

Angeal shook his head. “What did you do, rob a pharmacy? We don't need all of this.”

Sephiroth blinked. “Zack is sick, isn't he?”

“With the flu, Seph. He doesn't need an ankle compression bandage. In two sizes, no less.”

“Oh.” Sephiroth stared at the floor.

“These cough drops should come in handy, though,” Angeal said, trying to soothe things over. It wasn't Sephiroth's fault he had no experience with the woes of regular men. “You can put it all in the medicine cabinet. It's bound to come in handy sometime.” Sephiroth nodded and scooped up an armful of dental floss and hemorrhoid cream.

“Zack, dear,” Genesis was saying, perching on the narrow lip of space beside the boy. “Are you ready for dinner?”

“What's the use?” Zack said, mournful. “I'm beyond the reach of mortal hunger.”

Genesis jerked back. “Oh, Gaia, he's dying!” Angeal smacked him.

“Don't encourage him.” Angeal poked Zack in the ribs. “Roll over, sit up and eat something, puppy. You can't fight this bug on an empty stomach.” Zack groaned. Angeal sighed and displaced Genesis from his seat. “Puppy,” he said, more gently now. “You'll feel better once you take your medicine and you need to take it with a meal.”

“Uh, I guess,” Zack croaked like a wounded frog. He was red-eyed and rheumy and made noises when he breathed.

“Does it hurt?” Sephiroth asked, coming back from the bathroom. Zack nodded. This much Sephiroth understood, but he was unprepared to do more than look on.

“Dinner time,” Genesis called, reappearing with a bowl and a spoon. “Which one do you want, Zack?”

“Which what?” Zack asked, coughing again.

“Which soup, Zack,” Genesis said. “We got all kinds.”

“Uh?” Zack breathed noisily through his mouth.

“There's chicken corn soup, for starters,” Genesis began, “and chicken broccoli. Chicken noodle, of course, cream of chicken, Chicken n' mushrooms, chicken n' celery, roast chicken and onions, chicken wonton....”

“Uh....”

Angeal snorted. “Any chickens left in Midgar?”

“I don't believe anyone actually raises chicken in Midgar,” Sephiroth said quietly. Angeal started to explain, but just let it slide.

“Mmm, what was that third one?” Zack asked.

“Chicken noodle?” Genesis asked. “Good choice. It's a timeless classic.”

“Yeah,” Zack agreed. With a mighty heave he eased himself upwards. “But I've had so much of it before.”

“Oh, you want to try something new?” Genesis paused with the lid in his hands. “The roast chicken is exquisite.”

“Mmm,” Zack considered it. “But what kind of mushrooms are in that other one?”

“Chanterelle and shiitake, of course,” Genesis said. “Nothing but the best for a poor sick puppy. Want it?”

“Yes, please,” Zack said, looking remarkably brighter.

“Praise Gaia,” Angeal snorted, “he's cured.” Zack made a pointed little cough.

They took turns feeding Zack soup, Sephiroth committing savory sacrilege by granting Zack's request to mix a little of all the soups in one bowl for his third serving. “It's all getting mixed up in his stomach anyway,” Sephiroth said.

After Zack had been fed and properly medicated, it was time for bed. At least that's what Angeal said. “Pup, you have to rest. You'll just relapse if you start running around the instant you feel a slight improvement.”

“But I've been here all day,” Zack whined. “And all yesterday too!”

“Yes, and an hour ago you swore you were dying. Just lie back and try to rest, Zack.” Angeal fluffed Zack's pillow with a vengeance, swearing under his breath. “Because Goddess help me if I have to do this all day tomorrow too.”

“Hey, I heard that!” Zack erupted into a nasty coughing fit, going far past his ribs' ability to handle it. Angeal tried to rub his back but Zack jerked away until it was over. He collapsed backwards into his pillow and stared at the ceiling, one hand on his aching chest. “You dun lub me,” he said.

Angeal's shoulders drooped. “I do love you, puppy. You're just drugged up and not acting sensibly right now.”

“How can I?” Zack whined. “I'm sick, I hurt and I'm bored.”

“You shouldn't be bored, Zack,” Sephiroth said. “I brought you some reading material.” He pointed to the other side of the bed, where a neat stack of old mission logs sat for study.

“Uh, yeah, my eyes hurt too much to read,” Zack replied quickly.

“Why don't you find something on tv?” Genesis asked. “There's that new serial out, loosely, and I do mean loosely, based on Loveless, but the lead actor has such a firm, shapely little-”

“No tv,” Angeal cut in.

“Yeah,” Zack sighed. “All the light flashing makes my eyes hurt.”

“For shame,” Genesis said. “It's such a firm-”

“I could bring the radio in!” Angeal suggested.

“Okay.”

The radio was brought in and set up next to all the medication. There was some issue with getting it plugged in since the nearest free outlet was in the bathroom. Then they couldn't agree on a station. “I'm the sick one!” Zack wheezed.

“That's not a license to torture,” Genesis countered. “Now KGYN has a discussion series going with some of the finest literary authorities on the Planet.”

Sephiroth and Angeal both groaned. “Not Loveless again, Gen,” Angeal protested.

“It's a timeless classic.”

“Yes,” Sephiroth said, “and we've had so much of it before.” Genesis was just barely holding off a pout. Sephiroth went over to him. “Besides,” he said, sitting down, “They can't really have all the authorities on Loveless if they haven't asked you.” Angeal and Zack shared a glance.

Genesis fidgeted. “That's not going to work, Sephiroth,” he said, but it was clear on his face that it already had.

“Can I have Midgar's Classic rock station, pleaaase?” Zack worked his puppy eyes. Red and rheumy, they didn't have the same effect.

“How about some easy listening, pup?” Angeal suggested. “It'll help you sleep.”

“Okay.”

Angeal hit the preset button for his favorite station and all the lights went out. “Dammit.”

“Did we trip a breaker?” Genesis asked.

“Looks like it's the whole building,” Sephiroth said, his voice coming from near the window. “We'll have to wait for maintenance to get this one.”

“Dammit!” Zack yelled and gave in a rack of spasms immediately after. Angeal rubbed his back until he managed to keep it down to gasping with an occasional wheeze. Zack grabbed a pillow to hug and hunched down, chin on his knees.

“You okay, puppy?”

“No,” Zack moaned. “I'm sick, I can hardly breathe, my chest feels like I've been hit with a brick, I'm too fevered up to sleep and now I'm stuck here, in the dark, with no radio!”

“It's not so bad, Zack,” Sephiroth said. “SOLDIERs get stuck holding ground in uncomfortable positions all the time.”

“Yeah, but at least then you've got the threat of instant death to entertain you!” Zack buried himself in his pillows in a huff and groaned. Angeal sighed.

“Hmm,” Genesis said. “I might have a solution to this.”

********

They didn't have many candles but they only needed a few. Sephiroth stood in front of the bed, bare skin lit with a golden glow.

“Are you ready?” Genesis asked.

“Always, for you.”

Genesis smiled and drew Sephiroth down to his knees. Their kisses were soft and very slow. Genesis ran the tips of his fingers along Sephiroth's spine, coaxing a gasp and a shudder. “You like that?” he purred.

“Tease,” Sephiroth chided and nudged Genesis' knees apart.

Genesis responded by wrapping his long legs around Sephiroth's waist, leaving the other man to support his weight. “Didn't get your hair, did I?”

Sephiroth shook his head in a large arc. “No, it's fine.”

“Good,” Genesis said, then hissed as the first slick finger entered him. “That's cold!”

“Sorry, I'll warm it up.” Sephiroth was generous with the oil. The scent of cinnamon was everywhere. Genesis clung to him for more than the physical support.

“Seph, I don't need so much,” he pleaded, eyes going brighter in the dark. “I can take it now.”

“Are you sure?” Sephiroth asked, sucking Genesis' earlobe.

“Yes, Seph!”

“Hm.” Sephiroth tossed the oil onto the bed with a smirk then carefully lifted Genesis into position.

Genesis threw his head back and uttered a soft cry as Sephiroth entered him. Sephiroth, for his part, kept it maddeningly slow, so much that Genesis was moaning in frustration by the time he was fully seated in a lap again. His head fell forward to Sephiroth's shoulder. “Faster. I want... faster.”

“Not tonight, Gen.”

Genesis made a cry of protest and tried to speed things up, but Sephiroth had the better leverage and an iron grip on Genesis' hips. He set a pace that was sure to keep Genesis hovering on the edge for ages. The redhead wasn't the only one who knew how to tease.

“Bastard!” Genesis hissed.

“That's entirely possible,” Sephiroth replied with one slow thrust home.

Angeal retrieved the bottle of oil from the foot of the bed and poured himself a palmful before reaching under the blankets.

“Cold, cold, getting warmer,” Zack called out as Angeal searched, both never taking their eyes off the action in front of them. “Ooh, hot!” Zack leaned back against Angeal's chest, content to let his mentor do all the work.

“Still bored, Zack?” Angeal asked.

“Hell, no, this is way better than radio!”

On the floor, Sephiroth finally acceded to the request to speed up, but only on his terms, surging forward to pin Genesis to the floor with his knees over Sephiroth's shoulders. Genesis growled, face flushing with more than anger. “You complete and utter asshole!”

“Yes, I love you too, GenGen.”

*******

Three days later, when things seemed to be getting back to normal, Angeal found a note in his locker. It was not signed, but he recognized Sephiroth's efficient hand.

 _'G is sick. Bring soup, the puppy and lube.'_


End file.
